We lost power for 10 minutes on the coldest day Central Texas has seen in quite some time. Pedernales Electric Coop site
Here
reports that rolling blackouts will occur until there's enough power to meet the needs of the entire state permanently.
It's a smart way to avoid long-term blackouts in certain areas. It's also an example, to me, of how poorly the free market manages our essential needs in the days of no taxes, no regulation, no government.
How did this country get so terminally stupid? Will it ever end?
Real time reports
More Details on Causes (KUT site)
*****I have a frozen water line I'm trying to deal with so I keep disappearing. Thanks to everyone who's adding info in comments. I'll keep looking for more information as I have time.******
A few months back I read an article about one of Ausin's largest firms expanding into making solar cells - the computer chip business wasn't reliable enough to keep the company stable so they're branching out into the future, and improving solar power technology by leaps and bounds.
They learned that the only way to be successful was to build factories in other countries, not because of labor costs but because there's no support in this country for solar power. Germany is there largest expansion area because Germany passed laws requiring power companies to buy power back from customers who generate more than they use, and they upgraded their grid to make that a simpler process. During that time, what were we doing here? Paying more for petroleum products, drilling for more oil, burning more coal which we obtained by destroying mountaintops and thus the communities around them, and allowing out power grid to deteriorate. We also fought wind farms and laughed at solar cell arrays, and turned corn into bad gasoline. Fucking brilliant.
I'm posting this while I flail around the intertubes looking for that article.
UPDATE and apology. I really am the worst internet researcher I know. I'm trying to find a link to this and keep striking out.
FURTHER UPDATE:
I understand what commenters are saying about regulation of utilities etc, and agree with many of you to some extent.
My rant against the free market is based in my conviction that there's no free market, not really. It's a term Republicans toss into the mix to deflect any and all calls for regulation of businesses, no matter how egregious their sins. A state like Texas has an enormous stake in keeping the oil business alive - those were the glory days for us, and hope springs eternal. Any effort to update the power grid as was done in Germany will meet heavy resistance. We have no mechanism for requiring power companies to buy back unused solar or wind power generated by customers. I've heard that it's being done but it's not strongly supported. Barack Obama is the first politician who's actually done something to start changing our old ways of doing things, and he's as popular as white rice in a vegan co-op.
This is an eye-opener for us. We're putting our communal home on the market this month and planning a future pod-home with expansion possibilities for our brothers. This has given us much clearer ideas of what to build. We need more energy efficiency, a large water storage capacity and solar power, plus a good spot for large scale gardening and room for a few chickens and some goats. We knew we needed changes, this just brought that sense of helplessness to the forefront. We have a fireplace so we'd survive, but have no idea how much damage a frozen house might sustain. We need to know more, and be ready to cope better.
Late Afternoon UPDATE:
The most important story in Austin is:
Who will play for the Longhorns?